Refund process has started for some Karoondinha ticket holders

John Legend, Chance the Rapper and the litany of other artists scheduled to visit Penn’s Cave the weekend of July 21-23 will have to find another excuse to get a taste of Central Pa. in the summer. On Tuesday, the Karoondinha Music and Arts Festival announced that it will be vacating its original launch date.

According to a statement on Karoondinha’s official website, organizers have plans to reschedule the festival.

“Our entire team has been working tirelessly to have the event take place as planned, but have found it necessary to reschedule. We are fully committed to returning and are working to confirm alternate dates and arrangements. To everyone who has believed in Karoondinha, we are thankful and hope to continue to earn your support in the future,” the statement read.

Never miss a local story.

Sign up today for unlimited digital access to our website, apps, the digital newspaper and more.

More specific details on what that future might look, or sound, like have yet to emerge, but in the meantime there’s always ticket refunds to talk about.

A spokesperson with Eventbrite, one of the major online vendors for Karoondinha tickets, issued the following statement.

“We care deeply about the experience people have with Eventbrite and go to great lengths to ensure all customers are treated fairly when an event is canceled or significantly changed. We have been in communication with the organizers of Karoondinha, and will continue to work closely with them to process refunds as quickly as possible for impacted attendees,” the statement read.

Details on the time frame surrounding those refunds have yet to be released.

JusCollege, a website directed toward college students that specializes in planning and coordinating trips, posted a message on its website stating that the refund process had already been started. Once ticket holders receive an email confirming that their return has been initiated, the money should be refunded to their bank account or credit card within five to 10 business days.

Carrie Ann Cramsey is a junior at Temple University and as of Monday, she was planning on spending three days at Karoondinha alongside a large group of friends. On Tuesday, Cramsey received an email from JusCollege notifying her that a refund had been set in motion.

She counts two of the acts the festival had on tap — Paramore and Marion Hill — among her favorite bands and had been looking forward to experiencing the rest of the event’s diverse lineup.

Cramsey found out that Karoondinha had been canceled after following a link to a story on Billboard.

“I cried. I’m pretty heartbroken but not surprised,” Cramsey said.

She thinks that people overreach when planning a festival. Cramsey typically attends “small jam band fests” but even those are becoming harder to find these days.

“I don’t think you can safely plan a first-year festival with several acts that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Cramsey said.

While Cramsey’s refund may already be in progress, a second option has been provided courtesy of the second annual Deep Roots Mountain Revival, a three-day festival in Masontown, W.Va., scheduled to occupy the same weekend slot previously held by Karoondinha.

From July 20-22, the festival will bring artists including Lettuce, Yonder Mountain String Band and Brandi Carlile to Marvin’s Mountaintop. In a statement posted to social media, DRMR founder Claude Ryan said his event will honor all of Karoondinha’s weekend and single-day passes.

“We never want to see another event fail, or watch the fans of the festival scene feel as though they received the short end of the stick,” read Ryan’s statement.

Ticket holders aren’t the only ones looking at a sudden hole in their July calendar.

Blue Bookhard and Karis Stephen are both students at the University of Pennsylvania. Their band, Eleven, officially joined the Karoondinha lineup in March.

Bookhard thinks that Eleven was recruited for their ties to the student community. The band promoted the festival on social media and used other gigs to promote their prospective appearance at Penn’s Cave.

“They had actively told us to help market the festival,” Bookhard said.

Eleven found out the festival had been canceled after reading the Billboard story. Bookhard said the band received a text from Karoondinha’s event coordinator soon after.

“We didn’t realize there was any problem,” Bookhard said.

The band had been in regular contact with Karoondinha’s organizers up until two weeks ago, when according to Bookhard, communication went silent.

Eleven has not received any updates regarding when the festival might be rescheduled.

“They’re trying to make sure Karoondinha lives on for sure,” Bookhard said.

Gregg Township Solicitor David Gaines said it would be difficult to say how much revenue Karoondinha would have brought into the municipality, because an event of its scale has never occurred. He also said township supervisors supported the decision to cancel the event based on the grounds that organizers felt it may not have been done properly.

“One thing the supervisors have made clear is they support any activity like this that brings revenues to the area and highlights the area, especially the township, when done properly,” Gaines said.

He said he does not know of any official plans to reschedule Karoondinha.